How is Urgent Care Different from Emergency Care?

When you need to go to the Emergency Room:

If you have a serious condition including stroke, heart attack,
severe bleeding, head injury or other major trauma, call 911. Do
not take a chance with anything life-threatening. The ER is the
best place for these and other critical conditions, including:

Chest pain

Difficulty breathing

Severe bleeding, burns, pain or head trauma

Loss of consciousness, shock, catatonic state

Sudden loss of vision or blurred vision

Compound fractures

Poison ingestion, seizures, snake bites, shock

Urgent Care

Emergency Room

Medical Condition

Non Life-threatening

Life-threatening

On-site Lab

Limited

Yes

On-site X-ray

Limited

Yes

Overnight Stays

No

Yes

Urgent Care Services Offered

Walk-in care

X-rays

Illnesses and injuries including but not limited to sprains,
breaks, colds, influenza, ear infections, bladder and urinary
tract infections

Not all services are available at all urgent care locations.
Additional site-specific services are available at each location.
Visit the center's website or call the office for more
information.

For urgent, non-emergency health issues during regular
office hours, it is best to first call your primary care
physician, whose practice can usually accommodate a same-day
appointment.
When it is not life threatening and you need to
see a physician during non-office hours, UCLA's urgent care
centers are your best option.

What to Bring

Please have your medical information readily available, including
a list of medications that you are currently taking. This
information will help the doctor evaluate your health status.
Please be sure to bring your insurance card and the name of your
primary care physician, as well as photo identification such as a
valid driver's license or California ID.

Fees, Billing and Insurance

Our urgent care centers accept Medicare and many insurance plans. Any required co-payments and/or deductibles will be collected at the time of service.

For patients with HMO insurance plans, please check with your
health plan, primary care physician, or assigned medical group to
see if your visit is covered.

If UCLA Medical Group is your assigned medical group, your
visit will be covered.

For patients with insurance plans not contracted with UCLA,
who do not have insurance, or who are from outside of the United
States, payment is expected by cash, check or credit card at the
time of service.

Zipnosis: Online Care in Minutes

In addition, for current UCLA patients, UCLA offers a new
service:Zipnosis. For a small fee,
Zipnosis offers online diagnosis and treatment service by UCLA physicians for
common medical conditions, seven days a week from 8 am to 8 pm. Ask
questions about your illness and get a response from a UCLA physician in less
than an hour.

Emergency Care

If you or a family member is experiencing a potential
life-threatening emergency, CALL 911. Following the arrival of
the paramedics, you may request that they bring you or your
family member to one of UCLA's medical centers. However, the
paramedics will assess your condition and determine which
facility is best for you.

FastER

UCLA ERs offer fast-track service for minor injuries and
illnesses. FastER strives to treat patients who meet qualifying
criteria within 90 minutes or less. Please note, however,
that visits to the ER generally cost more than those to a
doctor's office or an urgent care center.